Photograph by: Peter J. Thompson
, National Post

TORONTO — The Toronto Argonauts announced Saturday the team has agreed to a contract extension with quarterback Steven Jyles. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Jyles’s new deal will run through the 2014 season.

“We have a lot of talent, offensively, in this club and I believe that if we work together and find our chemistry then, together, we will win games,” Jyles said in a statement released by the club.

The announcement follows speculation Wednesday the Argos had signed the 29-year-old to a two-year contract, including a third option year.

A report said the new deal would pay Jyles $75,000 up front and upwards of $250,000 each season.

Jyles became Toronto’s starter after Cleo Lemon was released in September. The University of Louisiana at Monroe product finished the season with 1,430 passing yards, seven touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

Jyles was also the team’s second-leading rusher with 429 yards. He missed the season’s final game because of a helmet-to-helmet hit during Week 18’s game against the hometown Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Jyles was set to be a free agent in February.

Argos general manager Jim Barker acquired Jyles in March in a trade with Winnipeg that cost Toronto its first pick in last year’s Canadian draft, but Jyles had a late start to the season due to lingering issues from shoulder surgery last off-season. In the club’s statement, Jyles said he has fully healed.

“It has been over a year since my shoulder surgery and I feel great! I intend to work hard to help build a tradition of winning in Toronto, to give Argos fans exciting football, and give the city a team they can be proud of,” he said.

Jyles entered the CFL in 2006 with the Edmonton Eskimos and has also played with the Saskatchewan Roughriders (2008-09), though he has never played more than 11 games in a season. It is not clear if the Argos intend for Jyles to be the team’s starter.

In the weeks before Toronto finished its 6-12 season at the bottom of the East Division, rumours circulated that the team was interested in bringing Calgary Stampeders quarterback Henry Burris east in the off-season after Burris lost his starting job to Drew Tate.

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